HUD secretary's testimony lasts four hours in trial of former TSU president

Published: Saturday, August 25, 2007

HOUSTON (AP) - The U.S. housing secretary testified Friday that he lost confidence in Texas Southern University's ex-president after details about a spending scandal she eventually was indicted for became public.

The trial of Priscilla Slade, the former president of the state's largest historically black university, began Friday with the testimony of Alphonso Jackson, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Jackson was a member of the TSU Board of Regents that hired Slade as president in 1999.

Prosecutors allege Slade misspent more than half a million dollars belonging to TSU during the seven years she ran the school in order to lavishly decorate her homes.

Her defense attorney argued all this spending was legitimate and that Slade's focus was on improving the university, not enriching herself.

Slade, 55, is on trial for one of two counts of misapplication of fiduciary property with a value over $200,000 that she was indicted on last year. If convicted, she could face up to life in prison.

During his four hours of testimony, Jackson, who had U.S. marshals escorting him in and out of the courtroom, at first told jurors Slade steered TSU through a financially rocky period when she became interim president in 1999.

At this time, the school was under fire for poor accounting practices and falling enrollment, and it faced a possible merger with a state school system.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Julian Ramirez told jurors as soon as Slade became the permanent president later in 1999, she began her illegal spending, including $48,864 for furniture and nearly $22,000 for flooring. In all she spent more than $143,000 on her home in the Houston suburb of Missouri City.

When she moved into a $1.2 million, 6,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style house she had custom built in 2005, Ramirez said, Slade spent more than $86,000 on furniture. She also spent more than $138,000 on landscaping and more than $61,800 on a high-tech security system, he said. Prosecutors said Slade also had TSU employees work on the construction and design of her new home.

Jackson told jurors the TSU regents never approved any of these expenses. Her contract gave her a monthly housing allowance of $4,000.